


I Almost Had You, Didn't I?

by SpringZero123



Series: Spring Writes Stuff [24]
Category: Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012)
Genre: Angst, Closure, F/M, why do i ship these two ONLY for the angst holy shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29766462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpringZero123/pseuds/SpringZero123
Relationships: Norman Babcock/Coraline Jones
Series: Spring Writes Stuff [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1784281
Kudos: 4





	I Almost Had You, Didn't I?

_Wishing I stayed._

Its been three years. Three whole years. And yet it still haunts his thoughts every time his mind wanders about the questions he still craves answers for, even though he knows he will never get his hands on it.

He tried not to think about it at all times, but there will always be moments when he does. And in most cases, he doesn't even realize it himself.

The thing is, the comfort of closure didn't exactly land between them, and as the years passed, they both found better people to pursue, until eventually their group of friends eased their ever growing rift.

The thing that troubles him is the fact that they might go talk with one another, but he couldn't figure out if they were formally friends. Again.

He took a small sip from his shot glass as he looked over the quaint city of Cheesebridge in peace. It was the birthday of Winnie's mother, and she wanted their whole gang to be there.

Unfortunately Neil had an urgent family trip, and Norman had no choice but to go to the party without him. He honestly wish Neil was here with him, because even though Norman is with his friends, that pain is always there.

"I thought I'd never see you all night."

Even though he didn't see who talked, the slight twist in his heart was enough to tell him who spoke.

"Congratulations," Norman huffed playfully, taking another sip from his shot glass, before smiling bitterly down below.

"Were you out here by choice?"

The playfullness in her voice still stung because of how sweet it is. "You know how much I hate formal events, CJ."

He can already tell that she's smiling, even without looking at her. "You'd still call me that?" She asked bitterly, as he felt her gaze land on him.

Norman knows that her question was an invitation for him to finally look her in the eye. His thick brows knitted tightly together, before finally deciding to turn his head to look at her.

And he really wished he didn't.

He wished his heart would stop skipping every time their eyes met, because it's simply not right anymore. It used to be, and it could've lasted longer, if he had only knew better.

"I'd only ever call you CJ, you know that," he answered softly,

"Yeah. I do," she sighed heavily with her head hung low.

Norman stood silent as he looked down on the city once again, contemplating to himself if he should ask or not.

He couldn't think of anything to pry her off, and this is a perfect time to talk about things that should have been talked about a long time ago.

_Alright, to hell with it._

"Do you... do you still miss me?"

Her head perked up at his sudden question, but then she realized that they didn't really have proper closure, so might as well get it over with.

Coraline stared at him hard, her mind trying to chose her words carefully. "Wybie asked me that same question, like two or three months into our relationship."

"What did you tell him?" Norman asked without thinking.

She let the question hang in the air, before slightly nodding her head, looking away. "I told him yes. I do miss you."

Now that wasn't the answer he was expecting from her.

"B-"

"But not for the reasons that you might think," she cut him off quickly with a scoff, and the sound of him sighing in relief prompted a small smile to make its way on her lips.

"I don't miss _you,_ as in you the _physical person,_ " Coraline reiterated, gesturing her hands to him, making him laugh.

And then, she sighed sadly. "Rather, I miss the memories I had with you."

Norman eyes grew wide. "Really? How did Wybie react when you told him that?"

"He didn't react _yet,_ because I wasn't done talking," Coraline snapped, and when she threw him a glance, the look on his face told him that he'll stay silent and will let her do the talking.

"About not missing the physical you," she continued, "what I mean was, I won't miss seeing your face, smile, voice- all things physical." That made Norman wonder about all the times his friends told him that she's staring without him even knowing it.

"I see you every day when we hang out with our friends, heck I can even see you now as I speak," Coraline allowed herself to laugh, and as he usually does back then, he laughed along with her.

"But even then, its still sad to think that, y'know, we once had genuinely happy times together, and now, all of those are just... _memories,_ " she sighed, placing her chin on her crossed arms resting on the balcony railings, looking down at the city below.

Norman frowned, looking away. "Three years, wasn't it?"

She nodded her head lightly. "Yeah. Time flies."

There was this certain halt in their conversation, letting themselves ponder on the words they just shared.

Coraline thinks to herself, wondering why Norman wasn't speaking up even though he was the one who started this conversation.

But as the silence continued to grow louder, the more she realized that she's speaking for the both of them, and that most likely means her thoughts are completely in synch with his.

"Those memories are not entirely gone," he piped in softly, mimicking her current figure, just moving a tad closer to her.

"And when you go back to those memories again, you still feel the love in them," Norman smiled, briefly bumping his elbow against hers.

She laughed bitterly. "But now, they're too painful to remember."

There goes another awkward pause between them, both pondering in their own tiny bubbles silently.

"It's been three years since I told Wybie that, and he was okay with it all, as long as I don't fall down that rabbit hole again." Coraline looks at him, then smiles.

"I have you as a friend, and you found yourself a sweet and cute boyfie." Norman allowed himself to laugh loosely at how she said "boyfie".

"But there's this nagging thought I have, that never truly went away as we were growing apart and living our lives without our usual ways."

He frowned, turning his head to her. "Its regret, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Coraline sighed. "I didn't expect that the feelings I had for you would go from romantic, down to just being platonic." And she's right, he didn't see all this coming too.

"I didn't expect this ending to that story we had going before, but we were having so much fun," the sadness in her voice sounds so genuine, that it breaks him entirely.

"We got the bad ending," Norman joked, but Coraline shook her head with a sly smile. "No, we got the sad one."

And that inside joke _alone_ was enough for them to laugh out loud like the two geek-induced people they both are.

"Did all those feed your curiosity?" She mused playfully, earning a soft chuckle from her old flame.

"It sure did," he laughed with a small smile. "But I also want to ask another question," even though he knew what her answer would be. Though, he wanted to hear it from her.

Norman stared at her dead in the eye, his thick brows forming a familiar shape whenever he's about to say something grave. "If given the chance, would you want to go back and change anything?"

Coraline scoffed with the shake of her head. "I definitely wouldn't want to go through those things all over again." 

"Called it," Norman joked once again while pointing a finger up in the air, making them both laugh.

And there it goes again. That haunting silence that has been making his heart feel like its pounding hard against his chest.

He thinks, then took a deep breath in. "One more question?" He asked her silently.

"Last one, Mr. B," she replied simply with a nod.

His eyes landed on the city below them, nervously fiddling his fingers.

"Would you want to try again?"

Norman turns his head to her with a serious look on his face, as if his answers were somewhere hidden in her eyes.

Coraline hoped he knew that that question hit hard, like a thunderstorm forced itself into her lungs.

She gave him this long, uncomfortable silence, that he thought she wasn't going to answer her question at all.

"You know," she finally spoke, facing him properly.

"From the bottom of my cold, twisted and insane heart," Norman can't help but chuckle at how she described how her feelings worked.

She gave him a small smile. "I'd love to try everything again. With you."

Then Coraline looked away from him with a heavy sigh. "Though, if we got the same ending like last time, then it would hurt twice as much as it already did," she laughed as she turned her head to face him.

"Hey," he smiled, just like how he used to. She allowed herself to smile back, as she felt that familiar swell in her heart, a feeling she had always saved for him, and him alone.

Then, that usual sparkle in his eyes turned into a sad one. He formed his hand into a small fist, as if he's inviting her to fist bump with him.

"In another life?"

She looked at him in the eye, challenging herself not to shed a single tear.

She realized that this was Norman's weird but sweet way of finally placing the last period of their story, and the fact that he's not going to end it without her truly made her heart warm.

Coraline gave him her last loving smile, before lightly bumping her fist on top of his as she softly nodded her head.

"Yeah. In another life."


End file.
